This allows us to appreciate, say, the golden silhouettes drawn with single-hair brushes on the indigo-dyed paper of a 1432 manuscript of the Lotus Sutra without interference from the ornate Chinese Yuan dynasty 1279-1368 gilded bronze of Vaisravana, protector of Buddhist teachings.

Where the monks of Mount Hiei participated in the great readings from the Lotus Sutra, believing that the path to enlightenment was gained through careful study of its every word, the Ikko-ikki rejected the idea that enlightenment was something to be learned—claiming that anyone, even a humble peasant, could accede to karmic liberation.